Murphy’s Law states “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” That was the story of the Vancouver Canucks in 2025. Do I even really have to go through it? I begrudgingly will. They had a public feud between stars, traded J.T. Miller, missed the playoffs, traded for Evander Kane, started off this current season in terrible fashion, and capped the year off by trading Quinn Hughes in December. It was a real rollercoaster of a year for the team. Except it was a rollercoaster that only goes down.
The Canucks are now in a defining year for the franchise. Now that we’re in the post-Hughes era, they have to choose a pathway that sets this team on a course for success in the future. With this current front office, I have my doubts that they are going to choose the right path. So, here are my goals for the Canucks in 2026.
Spoiler alert: they almost all fall under the umbrella term of “tank.”
1. Get a top 3 pick
Throughout the late 2010s decade, the Canucks were one of the worst teams in the NHL. However, they were never quite bad enough to get a top 3 pick in the draft. From 2016-2019, their draft positions were 5th, 5th, 7th, and 10th. They did manage to get Elias Pettersson at 5th overall in 2017 and Quinn Hughes at 7th overall in 2018. In 2016 they drafted Olli Juolevi while Auston Matthews went 1st overall, and in 2019 they drafted Vasily Podkolzin while Jack Hughes went 1st overall. Those drafts possibly left a little more to be desired.
This season, we are seeing a draft class where the top 3 projected picks are all quite enticing players. Maybe they aren’t as good as top 3s of the past, but there’s a lot to like. First there’s Gavin McKenna, who finished the World Junior Championship with 14 points in 7 games. Then there’s Ivar Stenberg, who’s almost point-per-game in the SHL this season. Finally, there’s Keaton Verhoeff, a 6’4 defenseman with the potential to blossom into an elite right-shot defender in the NHL.
When you think about the Canucks’ needs right now, those first two options are incredibly enticing. McKenna and Stenberg are both wingers, a position where the Canucks are lacking in young talent (and really any talent). Looking at the Canucks’ current prospect pool, the only notable winger is Jonathan Lekkerimäki. After that… well… not much. There’s Riley Patterson, who’s well over point-per-game in the OHL, but it’s his D+2 year. There’s Ty Mueller? Who could maybe be a 4th line guy one day? What I’m saying is that the winger options are thin in the Canucks’ system. Drafting either McKenna or Stenberg could be franchise-altering for this team, setting them on a path to actually score some goals in the future.
As for Verhoeff, he’s not the worst consolation prize, but there’s a lot to work on there. He’s shown flashes of brilliance in the World Juniors, particularly in the quarterfinals match against Slovakia, but part of me thinks he’s only projected that high because of his size. The classic “you can’t teach height.”
The Canucks also have a log jam in terms of young defensemen already. Zeev Buium, Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson, Sawyer Mynio, and Kirill Kudryavtsev are all U22 defensemen and all have the potential to be NHL contributors someday. The top 10 of this draft appears to be defenseman-heavy outside of the top 2, making me worry about what the Canucks will do if they mess up their draft position. McKenna and Stenberg both perfectly fit what this team needs right now.
The Canucks’ destiny is in their own hands when it comes to getting a top 3 pick. Right now, they sit in 31st place, with the Winnipeg Jets occupying that last place spot (somehow). You have to think Winnipeg will win games at some point, so the odds of Vancouver finishing at the bottom aren’t all that bad. If they finish dead last in the NHL, they guarantee themselves one of those top 3 spots. Are they going to aim for that? No. Is it the best thing for the team right now? Absolutely. The Canucks cannot go through another rebuild where the highest they ever draft is 5th overall. At some point, they’re going to need to go to the very basement, not just on the steps leading down.
2. Trade expiring contracts
Recent reports have suggested that the Canucks and Kiefer Sherwood have circled back around to extension talks. It wasn’t until I saw that report that I realized just how little I want to extend Sherwood’s contract.
It’s really nothing against Sherwood. He’s one of my favourite players on the team and I have loved watching him play in a Canucks jersey. He has long exceeded the expectations the Canucks had for him when they signed him a couple offseasons ago. He leads the team in goals so far this year with 17, and last season he shattered the all-time NHL record for hits in a single season. Very few players in the league have as much heart and ferocity as Sherwood.
Unfortunately, he’s almost 31.
It makes absolutely no sense for the Canucks to re-sign Kiefer Sherwood in their current position. This team realistically has a couple seasons to go before they can be competitive again. Why give a 31-year-old a new contract when you have the opportunity to trade him for assets?
Given the way the market has been, it’s not insane to think that the Canucks could get a 1st round pick for Sherwood. I am taking that 1st rounder every single day. A draft pick just simply fits our timeline way better than Sherwood does. Along with that, I also want to see Kiefer Sherwood play playoff hockey again. Part of the reason the Canucks signed him in the first place was his physical performance against Vancouver in the 2024 1st round. His game was made for playoff hockey, and holding him captive in the league’s basement would be an injustice.
Sherwood isn’t the only pending UFA that the Canucks should sell for assets though. Teddy Blueger, depending on his injury status, is a player that could fetch the Canucks a decent return. Maybe David Kämpf could get you a pick. Evander Kane should be traded for literally anything. Considering Mason Marchment just fetched Seattle a 2nd and a 4th, and Evander Kane is basically the same player, the Canucks should be able to get something valuable there.
There is no reason to keep these guys. They don’t fit the timeline at all, and there is a market for them that will help you stack up on draft picks. Imagine having three 1st round picks? That’s a luxury that the Canucks never commit to. Now’s the time.
3. Let the young guys play
Okay, realistically, this one is in here because I’m biased toward Aatu Räty. But it is a good practice for a team like the Canucks. Räty has been getting scratched far too often for someone who isn’t even playing poorly. He’s been struggling to put up points recently, but when you spend so much time in the press box, it’s hard to find your legs when you finally get game action. Räty is one of the best faceoff men in the entire league while also having respectable analytics and putting up an appropriate number of points for the deployment he receives. He’s also just 23 years old and this is his first full NHL season. He should be playing more so he can develop his game for the future. Instead, we get to see a bunch of 30 year olds in the lineup every game.
This goal kind of goes hand-in-hand with the last goal. Once those older guys are traded, it frees up your lineup to give these young guys an everyday opportunity. It’s not just Räty who has been spending too much time out of the lineup. Nils Höglander started the season injured. It’s been a slow start for him since coming back to the lineup, so he’s been scratched many times recently as well. How is he supposed to ever find his footing when he barely gets to play?
Then there’s Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who faced an injury in the 6th game of the Canucks’ season, and upon recovering was sent to Abbotsford. He’s played 9 games in the AHL now, with Arshdeep Bains getting called up in front of him. Lekkerimäki is 21-years-old and projects to be an important top-6 option for the Canucks’ future. In a season where the Canucks have no chance of being competitive anymore, he should be getting to see NHL ice. At least in this case he’s actually playing some sort of hockey, though. Better than watching it from the press box.
This is a great year for the Canucks to develop their young players and offer them NHL experience. Some of the decisions by Adam Foote and the front office have been questionable, recently. It’s time to create some space and let these young guys work on their game.
4. Fix the culture
In the past few seasons the Canucks have traded a captain in Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller after a well-documented feud with Elias Pettersson, and another captain in Quinn Hughes. Star players are unhappy in Vancouver, and it’s resulted in very public disagreements within the organization. Not only is it an embarrassment in general, but it certainly doesn’t give prospective future players the idea that Vancouver is an ideal destination.
Many players do not wish to play hockey in Vancouver. It’s up to the front office and coaching staff to find a way to change that. Players are looking demoralized in their postgame interviews pretty consistently. After the Quinn Hughes trade, Thatcher Demko came right out and said that he’s happy to be in Vancouver. Most teams do not need their players to confirm their happiness. In Vancouver, it’s breaking news.
The Canucks are a bad team. That is a fact. For the past two seasons, they’ve failed to be competitive and have had possibly the lowest morale of any team in the league. Just because you’re bad doesn’t mean the vibes have to be low, though. Look at San Jose last season. They had a perfect mix of both young talent and veterans. The pressure was off them, and even though they finished with just 52 points all season, they were clearly still having fun. Now, this year, they’re fighting for a wild card spot. The culture in San Jose is amazing right now and is a fantastic blueprint for prospective rebuilding teams to follow. Focus on your young guys and bring in veterans specifically to support their growth.
The Canucks do not seem to have their eyes on this blueprint, though, even though they should. They really do not have their eyes on any blueprint, in fact. Which brings me to my last goal for the team.
5. Commit to a direction
The Canucks cannot seem to determine where they’re at as a team. The word we’ve heard the most through the past couple years is “retool.” That all changed after the Quinn Hughes trade, when Jim Rutherford finally uttered the word “rebuild.” This marked a huge moment for the Canucks as an organization, considering they have never really publicly committed to rebuilding. Then, on an Amazon Prime broadcast last Monday, Patrik Allvin said that the team was retooling in a hybrid form. What does that even mean?
A retool already is a hybrid option for a hockey team. It’s a cross between keeping the same core and rebuilding. What is a hybrid retool? A hybrid hybrid? How much more hybrid can a hockey team go? My brain is breaking.
There simply cannot be a world where the front office thinks a retool makes this team into a contender. They have no game-changers on the roster right now, unless Thatcher Demko is playing at his very best and staying healthy forever. That’s a huge hypothetical. Maybe they think they can get a top 3 pick this year and then that player can immediately be a game-changer? It’s possible. Look at Matthew Schaefer this season.
The team needs to decide on a direction and stick with it. Their stories keep on contradicting each other. I just want more transparency from my hockey club so I can understand what they’re going for. Obviously, a rebuild is the ideal option right now, but who knows if Francesco Aquilini will ever let that happen. Maybe a “hybrid retool” is just the front office’s way of suggesting a rebuild without getting immediately fired for it? We know Aquilini has not been shy about firing GMs who want to take the team down that route. Speaking of Aquilini, I actually have 1 more goal for the team this year:
BONUS: Sell the team
